On the topic of an official RP server, Lord of the Rings Online provided an interesting test.
LOTRO is, of course, based on Lord of the Rings. Which has a fan base exhibiting passion for the lore that's astounding to see.
When the game came out, it was published by two different companies at the same time. Turbine (who developed the game) ran servers in north america, and they sold the EU business to Codemasters. Turbine decided that they wouldn't create a specific RP server, but instead they designated the Landroval server as "RP encouraged". Codemasters set up the Laurelin server as an official RP server, and added some specific terms of service for that server that basically covered derp and troll behavior. Lore-inappropriate names (Spanky McBottom), trolling ("Look at the RP f***!"), and setting-inappropriate behavior (being that one Dwarf who jump-runs in circles in the Prancing Pony while spamming AOEs) were all banned, and they were pretty decent about policing it.
I was on the Landroval server, of course, because people in north america couldn't get on EU servers and visa-versa. It was a decent RP community, but there were definitely parallels with things that happen on Balmung. I'd heard stories of how good Laurelin was, but I couldn't go see without buying a Codemasters version of the game and using a VPN.
A few years ago, Turbine bought the EU business back from Codemasters, and brought the EU servers under their own umbrella. They didn't change anything about them - Landroval remained RP encouraged without any special rules, and Laurelin remained "official RP" with it's special rules. The big difference was now anyone could get on any server. I decided to make a character on Laurelin to see what the difference was.
It was amazing.
RPers were still probably in the minority, but there wasn't the sort of derpage or trolling that you'd see on Landroval - or Balmung. The Prancing Pony - the LOTRO equivalent of the QS - had musicians (LOTRO has an amazing player-music system), storytellers, random patrons drinking, people having hushed meetings in the corner. It felt like an actual tavern in that setting. No Spanky McBottom spamming AOEs. No trolls in their underwear going around to RPers and sitting in their laps. I found RP while questing in out of the way swamps and such.
It was amazing.
Perhaps official RP servers in other games haven't worked out, but that doesn't mean that the concept can't work out.
As for whether I'd move or not? It depends. Being assured of carrying over my assets and not losing my housing (I like the house token idea that's been thrown around) would help. Knowing that a ton of RPers were moving would help.
LOTRO is, of course, based on Lord of the Rings. Which has a fan base exhibiting passion for the lore that's astounding to see.
When the game came out, it was published by two different companies at the same time. Turbine (who developed the game) ran servers in north america, and they sold the EU business to Codemasters. Turbine decided that they wouldn't create a specific RP server, but instead they designated the Landroval server as "RP encouraged". Codemasters set up the Laurelin server as an official RP server, and added some specific terms of service for that server that basically covered derp and troll behavior. Lore-inappropriate names (Spanky McBottom), trolling ("Look at the RP f***!"), and setting-inappropriate behavior (being that one Dwarf who jump-runs in circles in the Prancing Pony while spamming AOEs) were all banned, and they were pretty decent about policing it.
I was on the Landroval server, of course, because people in north america couldn't get on EU servers and visa-versa. It was a decent RP community, but there were definitely parallels with things that happen on Balmung. I'd heard stories of how good Laurelin was, but I couldn't go see without buying a Codemasters version of the game and using a VPN.
A few years ago, Turbine bought the EU business back from Codemasters, and brought the EU servers under their own umbrella. They didn't change anything about them - Landroval remained RP encouraged without any special rules, and Laurelin remained "official RP" with it's special rules. The big difference was now anyone could get on any server. I decided to make a character on Laurelin to see what the difference was.
It was amazing.
RPers were still probably in the minority, but there wasn't the sort of derpage or trolling that you'd see on Landroval - or Balmung. The Prancing Pony - the LOTRO equivalent of the QS - had musicians (LOTRO has an amazing player-music system), storytellers, random patrons drinking, people having hushed meetings in the corner. It felt like an actual tavern in that setting. No Spanky McBottom spamming AOEs. No trolls in their underwear going around to RPers and sitting in their laps. I found RP while questing in out of the way swamps and such.
It was amazing.
Perhaps official RP servers in other games haven't worked out, but that doesn't mean that the concept can't work out.
As for whether I'd move or not? It depends. Being assured of carrying over my assets and not losing my housing (I like the house token idea that's been thrown around) would help. Knowing that a ton of RPers were moving would help.
